“I need my mates back,” I say firmly. “That’s first.”
Eugene clucks in agreement, and I hand him a blueberry. Henry has understood that I’ve needed my space lately. That Stacey, Raquel and Sabrina have all needed him more than me. No doubt the violence pounding through my veins at every moment has set his psychic metres on alarm. But he turns to me now, those huge, liquid black eyes glistening. I hold out my hand, and he chirps in greeting, levitating himself to settle onto my palm. I raise him to my face, and he licks me on the nose.
“You’re doing a good job,” I whisper to him. “You’re such a good nimpin.” He closes his eyes and sways a little, enjoying my voice. My hand trembles. Hastily, I lower him to the mattress. Henry tries to find the source of my anger in my eyes. I’m afraid that if he looks too long, he’ll find it. “Such a small creature shouldn’t carry such large burdens. Leave that to the big, nasty beasts.”
“Leave that to the big boss bitch,” Sabrina drawls. “The head of Kharkorous Enterprises.” Why does my heart twang everytime she says that?Because it means he’s not here to look after things. It means his shark eyes aren’t going to appear around that corner and pierce my soul.
In Henry’s eyes, I see trust. I see the same in Sabrina’s. Even Minnie, despite her current torment about the Clawsons, trusts me implicitly. I realise it with all the force of a cricket bat to the head. I know Raquel would trust me too. That’s why they came for me the night Savage asked them to help contact me at Drakos Estate.
Eventually, me and my thoughts leave my friends for the library. Eugene alone tails me like a faithful shadow as I head for the section on serpents. The academy must have hidden books away at some point, only to reveal them later. Everything we could find, I’ve taken back to our dorms, and we’ve exhausted the school’s supply. But I hunger for more. So I get out my phone and call someone I’ve been avoiding speaking to.
“Aurelia?” The soft voice is gentle in my ear, but there is a new power that Selena Drakos carries with her now.
“I’m sorry I didn’t call sooner,” I say. “I…didn’t know?—”
“I understand,” she says, a door closing in the background. “Are you alright? Have you heard anything? I’ve been scouring the news and social media, but everything is quiet, and with Mother’s treasure haze, we have to keep a low profile. She won’t let me leave.”
I’d since learned that a treasure haze originated from hard-won or hard-spent objects from a time where dragons lived in mounds of their own gold and jewels. Eventually, it transitioned to parents and children, and then, between mates. Lady Drakos had nearly died in the fight to kill Flores, and she’d won Drakos Estate. It will be impossible to approach those lands without incurring her wrath.
“The lady of the castle is okay?” I ask.
“She’s obsessive about feeding the hatchlings and cleaning them. They think it’s funny and pretend to go into treasure hazes over silly things like chocolate and their plushies. We’re all good here; we just have to wait this out.”
Reassured by this, I move onto business. “You heard about Clawson House?”
I give her a quick recap and expect to get berated for it, but she seems to understand my heightened state because all she says is, “I wish I was there to help you.”
“I’m going to get them back, Selena,” I say.
She says the one thing that could give me heart right now. “I know you are.”
“Are you able to access your underground library?” I ask. “I’m researching a few things.” We speak for a while after that, and Selena tells me she’s going to scan some pages and email them to me, since Lady Drakos is only letting food delivery drivers in and out of the house right now.
That night during my patrol, I return to the top of the animus dorm for my three-hourly break to find five missed calls from Rufus, my new advisor. Swearing under my breath, I return his call. He picks up on the first ring. “Lady Boneweaver, you need to see this video that’s currently circulating all over social media. I have done my best to take down any reposts, but it’s gone viral and spreading fast?—”
I look down at my screen to see the video he’s sent me and almost drop my phone in the process. Under the strobe lights of a nightclub, Katerina Crocodylus wears a sexy outfit that is more lingerie than dress, lounging on a red loveseat in a roped-off area. On her hand is that nefarious silver bangle she wears with the chains. But connected to them this time are four all too familiar figures.
The other pieces of my soul are chained to her, their heads bowed, their naked skin bare for everyone to see, coloured lightsbouncing off them like there’s something to celebrate. Only Scythe is clothed, his signature black shirt crisp, those silver strands ever perfect. The Collector laughs over her shoulder, replying to something unintelligible. “The Boneweaver girl can come and see them if she wants. See if they want her back.” Everyone around her laughs.
All I see is red.
I explode into dragon form and roar into the night. The building shakes beneath me. Somewhere, glass breaks. There are screams from inside. Tearing into the sky, I’m nothing but a terror of muscle and sinew in the dark.
Chapter 16
Aurelia
Pushing my dragon’s body to its full acceleration makes my blood roar with satisfaction. I charge through the air like a battering ram, following the four golden threads and one dark, tattered thread from my phoenix sight that all point in one direction.
My mates. The pieces of my soul are still tethered to me. Nothing could sever that except wilful breaking. As it is, Xander’s mark is still there, only dark and frayed like an ancient flag.
The land blurs beneath me, and I’m glad for my second, clear eyelid snapping into place on autopilot because that wind could cut a bitch. It’s not long before the bright lights of the city twinkle before me. There’s no draconic welcome here like at Animus Academy, only unassuming points of light. But this city has never seen a dragon like me.
I come upon it invisible and silent, letting my threads pull me in the right direction. It takes only a minute to realise where this confrontation will take place. The Jewel of the Jungle. They had been at some other club in the video, and this move feels purposeful. Katerina knew I would come.
Suddenly, my senses are painfully sharp, and every sound and smell hits me. Everyone knows I was at Clawson House, and for all I know, this entire event has been to lure me out of Animus Academy. Well, trap, I see you and I raise you one. Boneweavers don’t do traps, we fucking smash through them.
I begin my spiralling descent, circling the place and marking it with dragon eyes. There are as many cars parked here as there were the day of my debut. Every forsaken criminal beast of the city must be here to seethe show. Heat fills my lungs, and as I exhale black smoke, I narrow my eyes at the surroundings of the Jewel. There is nowhere for a dragon to land. Oh well.
